Improvement in mail-bag fasteners



STEPHENSON 8 TYER.-

MAIL BAG FASTENER.

Patented Apr. 4, 1871.

N. PETERS vmwumn m her. Walhinglon. u. c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH M. STEPHENSONAND JOHN B. TYER, OF WABASH, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAIL-BAG FASTENERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 113,359, dated April 4, 1871.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HUGH M. SrEPHENsoN and JOHN B. TYER, of Wabash, in the county of Wabash, in the State of Indiana, have invented a Bag-Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to employing and using four parts or pieces of iron, brass, or other firm metal, wood, or other material in strips united together at the ends with hinges, in such a manner that they may, when attached to a bag, at pleasure be opened, then forming the mouth of a bag, or shut, thus closing it, the object of our invention being, when used, to open and close a mail-bag, house-bag, or bags for any purpose, with ease, certainty, and dispatch, and to secure the contents against waste by loss or injury by reason of wet, dampness, or other condition of the weather.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents the four parts or pieces described united with hinges at the ends, with a bag attached and open. Fig. 2 represents an end sect-ion of open or double flanges, which are the top of two of the parts or pieces, the de pending part being a part of one of the hinges referred to. Fig. 3 represents an end section of single flanges, which are the top of two of the parts or pieces, the depending part of one of the hinges referred to.

A, B, O, and D are the four parts or pieces,

made of iron. brass, or other firm metal, wood,

or other material, in strips united at the ends with hinges F, and which form the mouth of the bag. The opposite parts A and O, and the opposite parts B and D, when the bag is open, are parallel and of equal length with each other; but the parts A and O are of unequal length with the parts B and D. Two of the connected parts, A and B, and being parts composing two sides connected together, are bent or molded atthe top into open or double flanges E, as shownin Fig. 2, at right angles with the rest of the part, the open part or slat of the flange being inward, while the two others of the connected parts O and D, composing two sides connected together, are bent at the top to a single flange, G, as shown in Fig. 3, which single flange is at right angles with the rest of the part and directed inward, so that on shutting the mouth of the bag the single flange will enter and close tightly into the slots of the double flanges; or, as shown by Figs. 2 and 3, so that, on shutting, G shall enter into and close tightly into E. A staple is firmly inserted into the part A at I, having a corresponding slot in the part 0 at J, into which slot J the part I enters on shutting the bag, where it can be fastened and secured by lock, pin, or bolt, at pleasure.

The letters a a a represent orifices in the parts to which the bag X is attached by metallic nails or other such means.

K represents the hand-bolt at opposite corners of the pieces when the bag-mouth is open, so that when the bag is shut it may be drawn open.

We claim as our invention- The combination of the four several parts A,-B, O, and D, united with hinges at their ends, the parts A and B surmounted at the top with a double flange bent outward, so as to include an even slot along their whole length, and the parts 0 and D being surmounted at the top with asingle flange bentinward, so adjusted by the hinges in the manner described so that when shut the single flanges of the parts 0 and D shall enter and close the slot of the double flanges A and B, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at WVabash, \Vabash county, Indiana, December 23, 1870.

HUGH M. STEPHENSON. JOHN B. TYER.

Witnesses:

ALVAH TAYLOR, EDWIN L. BRENTON. 

